Monday, February 22, 2010

Just a reminder that the North Carolina GOP holds it's precinct meetings in February. In Wake County, they are tonight - Monday, February 22, 2010. If you live outside Wake County, got to http://www.NCGOP.org to find out when your county is meeting. Outside of NC, please check with your state party HQ.

WHY ATTEND?

* You'll have a seat at the table - Want to have influence on decisions? Show Up!* You can become a VOTING delegate to County and State Conventions!* You can become a precinct or district officer!* You'll get to meet other like-minded conservatives who are concerned about the direction of our country.* You can start DOING something about what's wrong instead of just complaining about it!

Those are just a few reasons why you should attend. This is our year to make a difference. Make the small sacrifice that can make a big difference.

My District (eastern Wake County - Zebulon, Wendell, Knightdale, and east of Garner) will be meeting as follows:

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) delivered the weekly Republican address and will attend the White House Summit on health care next Thursday. In his address this week, Rep. Camp echoed the American people's request to reduce the cost of health care noting that, "the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the Republican health care bill would actually lower insurance premiums across the board by up to 10 percent - about $2,000 per year. The Democrat bills do just the opposite - they increase the cost of health care."

Hello, I'm Congressman Dave Camp from Michigan, and I serve as the lead Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee.

This is a time of economic uncertainty. Tens of millions of Americans are either looking for work or have just given up entirely. They're looking to Washington for solutions. But instead it seems Washington keeps adding to their problems. That's why Americans are demanding that President Obama and the Democrats in control of Congress scrap their misguided plan of a government takeover of health care. They don't want a 2,000-page bill that threatens jobs and drives up health premiums; they already have enough challenges to deal with in their daily lives. They want Washington to start over with a step-by-step approach to health care reform that begins with reducing costs and ensures they can keep their current plan if they like it.

For those families and small businesses looking for a sign that Washington is ready to wake up and find common sense on this issue, next week's White House health care summit may not be it.In fact, right now, Democrats are continuing to work behind closed doors, putting the finishing touches on yet another massive health care bill Americans can't afford and don't want.If it's like Democrats' other health care bills, this one will drive up premiums, destroy jobs, raise taxes, slash Medicare benefits, and add to our already-skyrocketing debt.

But this won't be just another bill written in secret and signed off on by special interests. Democrats have admitted they are working on an undemocratic plan to jam this bill through Congress and subvert the will of the American people. Democrats themselves are describing this latest maneuver as a “trick.”

If the starting point for this summit is more of the same backroom deals and partisan bills, then this meeting will likely be a charade.

From the beginning, Republicans have listened to the American people and offered reforms that lower health care premiums for families and small businesses.The bill I and House Republicans proposed last fall implements common sense solutions focused on lowering costs. Our bill ensures nobody will be denied coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition. It gives states the tools to implement their own innovative reforms. And we put an end to the junk lawsuits that are forcing doctors to practice defensive medicine and drive up the cost of health insurance for all Americans. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the Republican health care bill would actually lower insurance premiums across the board by up to 10 percent - about $2,000 per year. The Democrat bills do just the opposite - they increase the cost of health care.Just as important, Republicans get the job done without cutting Medicare, without raising taxes, and without piling more debt on our kids and grandkids. All the details of our plan are available at healthcare.gop.gov.

Republicans remain ready to discuss these ideas with President Obama and move forward in a bipartisan way to lower health care costs. But Americans' health care is way too important to risk on a rushed backroom deal that puts federal bureaucrats in charge of your personal health care decisions. Instead of hurting small businesses by forcing them to pay new taxes and meet new regulations, our focus should be on lowering their health care costs so that they can expand and hire more workers.

So in order to have a productive bipartisan conversation on health care, Democrats must first listen to the American people and scrap their massive government takeover of health care. We must go into the summit with a clean slate focused on making health care affordable. That is what Americans are asking for, and that is what Republicans will continue to work for.Thanks for listening. ---Community News You Can Usewww.GeorgiaFrontPage.comTwitter: @gafrontpagewww.ReadMyLipstickNetwork.comTwitter: @readmylipstickwww.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.comwww.Hummingbird-Hollow.comTwitter: @hhpotterystudio---

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

One year ago today, President Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill into law with great hype and big promises, but the facts show that after 365 days, we have more debt, lots of wasteful spending, funding for a liberal wish list but no new jobs. In fact, the cost has risen $75 billion to $862 billion because unemployment benefits had to rise to pay for people who lost jobs that the bill was supposed to save.

“President Obama and the Democratic Congress said the stimulus would stem the tide of unemployment ‘almost immediately,’ but instead we’ve seen a continued deterioration of the job market while we’ve piled up hundreds of billions of dollars in new debt,” U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland said. “We know there’s been a lot of spending, but where are the jobs? The administration had a tough job in defending all this deficit spending that we can’t afford to pay back, but it’s that much harder for them when the country lost an additional 3 million jobs AFTER the stimulus.”

When the stimulus passed, the nation’s unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. The administration stated this massive new spending would keep the unemployment rate below 8 percent. It quickly soared above 10 percent – and it’s actually higher than that if you include the many millions of Americans who have simply given up looking for the time being. In Georgia, the unemployment went from 9.2 percent before the stimulus to 10.3 percent at the end of 2009.

“All of this money was deficit spending,” Westmoreland said. “We’ll be paying the interest on this for years – taking hundreds of billions a year away from future priorities and future needs and emergencies. We’ve worsened our fiscal crisis, and adding insult to injury we haven’t gotten much in return for it.

State Representative Tom Graves (R-Ranger) released the following statement on the one year anniversary of the $787 billion stimulus package being signed into law:

“One year ago today, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. The purpose of the $787 billion stimulus bill was to create new jobs, as well as save existing ones; to spur economic activity by investments that provide long-term economic growth; and to foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending.

“A year later, over three million Americans have lost their jobs; only six percent of Americans believe the stimulus package created jobs; and it was revealed that the Recovery Act website bragged about job creation in make-believe congressional districts.

“The stimulus has failed and the American people know it.

“Unfortunately, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress don’t want to face reality; they want to spend tens of billions more on a JOBS Bill. While they may have gotten the name right, their approach is still wrong.

“There is only one true JOBS Bill in this country and it is being considered and debated right here in Georgia.

“The Jobs, Opportunity and Business Success Act of 2010 is not another government stimulus, not another government bailout and not another government buyout of the private sector. It is a common sense, free-market approach that will get our economy moving again by using tax credits, cuts and incentives to spur job creation.

“The JOBS Act of 2010 will help Georgia lead the nation out of the recession and into economic prosperity.

“If the leaders in Washington were serious about getting America back to work, they would abandon their big government, big spending approach that is bankrupting our country and instead follow Georgia’s lead by unleashing its entrepreneurial spirit by empowering the private sector to create jobs.”

Last month, Representative Graves introduced the Jobs, Opportunity and Business Success Act of 2010 (JOBS Act of 2010) in the Georgia House of Representatives. More information about the JOBS Act of 2010 can be found by clicking here.

Representative Tom Graves represents the citizens of House District 12, which includes portions of Bartow, Gordon, and Pickens Counties. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 2002, and is currently the Chairman of the 9th District Caucus. He serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Motor Vehicles Committee and is also a member of the Health & Human Services, Transportation, and Ways & Means Committees.---Community News You Can Usewww.GeorgiaFrontPage.comTwitter: @gafrontpagewww.ReadMyLipstickNetwork.comTwitter: @readmylipstickwww.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.comwww.Hummingbird-Hollow.comTwitter: @hhpotterystudio---